Sovereignty

In Niall and the Hag at the Well she guards a well in a wild place, as black as coal, with a grey mane like a wild horse’s tail and a sickle of green teeth, and her price for the water is a kiss. Fergus, Ailill and Brian refuse her, and Fiachra says he would give few kisses for it. Niall kisses her, and she becomes the loveliest woman in the world, in a purple mantle with a brooch of bright silver. I am the Sovereignty, she tells him, and the sovereignty is like her, loathsome at first and beautiful at last, for “seldom it is gained without battles and conflicts” (Whitley Stokes, 1903).